The game referred to generally as “bingo” is played with predetermined bingo cards having designations, such as numbers, letters, or other symbols, randomly arranged in a grid or other layout on a bingo card. The locations of such designations on a bingo card are sometimes referred to as spots or locations. Bingo cards may be physically printed on paper or another suitable material, or may be represented by a data structure that defines the various locations and the designations associated with the locations. In a traditional bingo game sequence, a number of predetermined bingo cards are put in play for a particular game. After the sale of bingo cards is closed for a given game, designations are randomly selected from a pool of available designations, such as by drawing marked balls from a tumbler. The selected designations are then matched to the designations on each bingo card that is in play for the game. This matching, which is commonly referred to as daubing the bingo card, results in an individual pattern of matched spots for each card. In traditional bingo games daubing was done manually by the player holding a bingo card. If the player's daubing indicated the bingo card had a game ending pattern, the player would announce the win or “bingo” and the card was again daubed by a game administrator in order to verify the game ending pattern. More recent bingo game systems automatically check for game ending patterns on a bingo card as designations are randomly selected for a game. This automated daubing may be in lieu of or in addition to daubing by the player. Regardless of how the bingo cards in play for a game are daubed, the first bingo card that is daubed in some predefined way is considered a winning bingo card for the game.
Although traditional paper bingo games remain popular, the speed with which such traditional games are played is often an issue among today's players, who are increasingly accustomed to more fast-paced entertainment. That is, certain steps in the traditional paper bingo game are relatively time consuming. These include time allotted for bingo card purchasing (the buy-in period), followed by a period for drawing a sequence of balls, for which there is an announcement of each individual designation that is drawn, followed by a period to allow players to manually daub their bingo card or cards, and then a time for winner verification. The time required to play a traditional bingo game tends to limit player excitement and satisfaction.
Various systems have been developed to aid players in playing bingo games and to enhance player participation in the games. Some bingo gaming systems allow players to participate in bingo games through electronic player stations, and may dispense with the cumbersome distribution of paper bingo cards. Some bingo gaming systems allow players at different gaming facilities, which may be spaced apart over a large geographic area, to participate in bingo games through electronic player stations maintained at the various gaming facilities. These bingo gaming systems may greatly increase player participation in bingo games.
Electronic bingo systems may conduct bingo games relatively quickly in comparison to traditional paper bingo games, and allow the players to receive results very quickly. The speed with which bingo game results are returned to the players and other aspects of electronic bingo gaming systems provide a great deal of flexibility in presenting the results to the players. However, there remains a need to increase player participation in electronically implemented bingo gaming systems and to further decrease the time required to play bingo games.